JONAMAR JACINTO/The Bulletin/

RIPON — Teagan Manus was dribbling a ball with her hands just a couple of days ago.

On Friday, she was doing it with her feet.

She scored the first of her three goals just 13 minutes into Ripon Christian’s Southern League match with Gustine, and upstart freshman Abby Buitrago added a hat trick of her own to highlight an 8-1 blowout.

“I think I did pretty well today,” Manus said. “(On Wednesday) I got to practice for the first time, which was good.”

Manus did show a little rust, missing wide on point-blank opportunities early in the second half while shooting for her third goal. She finally got it in the 51st minute after intercepting a goal kick.

Manus led Ripon Christian’s girls basketball team to the CIF Northern California Division V Regional Championships, and it was eliminated in the opening round Wednesday. Making the transition with her were defender Ellen Blankers and left winger Adri Van Groningen. Blankers contributed two goals in her season debut.

Head coach Kevin Tameling couldn’t wait to get his full squad together after it went 5-1-1 without the three upperclassmen. The Knights are now 3-0 to start their defense of the SL title.

“Having them all back from basketball is big,” Tameling said. “It allows us to control the ball more. It definitely made a big difference in how we were able to attack today. We have a lot of speed up top this year and we were able to take advantage of that.”

Tameling was mildly surprised with how dominant Ripon Christian was in the showdown between last year’s top two SL teams. The 2013 champions were ahead 5-0 by the 30-minute mark, and Gustine (0-2) didn’t take a shot until the 39th minute. That short-range shot from Rosa Laquin actually resulted in the Redskins’ only goal. They didn’t have another attempt until the final minute of the match. Ripon Christian finished with 18 shots, 11 of them on goal.

“They lost last year’s top goal scorer but they have a great coach who puts together a great team,” Tameling said. “We prepared all week as if we were going to face the same second-place team from last year and the girls did a nice job today. We were able to score early and build on that.”

Scary thought: Ripon Christian can still get much better. The Knights have three matches — next one is March 24 at Turlock Christian following spring break — before its big visit to Mariposa, the SL’s third-place team from a year ago and one of their main challengers for the crown. Waterford proved its worth in a competitive 1-0 loss to RC in the league opener, but that was without Manus, Blankers and Van Groningen.

Manus and Van Groningen can use a few more tune-ups to gain more chemistry with Buitrago, who is already a proven goal-scorer at the varsity level. She replaces graduated striker Kaylie Colyn, RC’s second-leading scorer last season with 14 goals and 12 assists.

“It’s awesome. I’m happy to have her up there with me because last year we had a pretty good forward,” Manus said.

Trans-Valley League

Ripon 1, Hughson 1

The Indians (0-1-1 TVL, 3-2-2 overall) were able to salvage a point in what was a week of hard luck to begin the TVL schedule.

Hughson (0-0-2, 1-1-2) struck first in the third minute when Janet Rivera’s direct kick was deflected in by a Ripon defender.

Zaire Davis helped breathe life into the Indians’ stagnant offense late in the second half when coach Jamie DeBruyn decided to move the speedy defender into the attacking third. It paid off almost immediately, as Davis punched in the equalizer on a breakaway in the 71st minute.

Ripon controlled the final 15 minutes of the match and had several opportunities to take leads. Jessica Carmona had the best look late, but her open look just missed the left post.

“We came out flat,” DeBruyn said. “The girls were playing with more urgency in the second half and just bombarded (Hughson’s goal) with shots in the end, but playing 15 minutes of soccer isn’t going to do it.”

Frosh-soph

Ripon 5, Hughson 0

Alaina Cornilsen accounted for four of Ripon’s goals in Friday’s shutout. Alex Bair scored the other.